Branding the business and my journey into the world of mediation and self-employment.

 
By the time I received my CEDR accreditation I had already started to practice again as a solicitor but in a brand new way and on my own terms. Entering the world of consultancy was daunting. Many partners in law firms become consultants before they retire, however in a firm that they have worked in for many years, how was I going to break into this world at the grand old age of 33?
 
Consultancy was the only way I could keep practicing without compromising my new business venture, it allowed me to work on a flexible basis to allow time to build my mediation practice. It also allowed me to stay in the litigation game, keep up to date on what is going on and stay relevant, all skills and expertise that a mediator must bring to the table. Once I threw myself into it, it was liberating, the work was there and I was back into the swing of litigating without office politics, without the requirement that your face should be seen day in, day out, without the targets ….. granted it’s not all “perfect”, it can be lonely, it requires significant confidence in your ability given there isn’t anyone to bounce things off and the financial side of it is contract dependant as opposed to a monthly set salary but once you get used to that new way of working, the pros absolutely outweigh the cons.
 
The flexibility of consultancy has given me the time to spend with Rosie and enjoy all the moments that I didn’t want to miss out on although granted I still miss out on some but I can’t have everything. Sometimes I don’t mind missing out on celebrating a big poop on the potty and waving at it….. something that we’ve recently started to do to get her used to the pot and is absolutely hilarious when you find yourself saying hello poo!! I also now had the time to dedicate to creating and building a brand around my mediation practice which has been one of the most exciting things I have done. I had no idea where to start….. so I met with Creativehill and took it from there. He explained the basics to me - what did I need to think about: what’s my USP, who am I, what am I about and he even gave me HOMEWORK, called the 100 word challenge!! Can I admit that I secretly loved doing it? You may be starting to see that the inner geek in me comes to the forefront on most days in my life!!
 
The strapline (which I don’t think is the right word but the correct word escapes me) was born out of my homework…… “explore – facilitate – resolve”. Loved it! But what was this business going to be called? For some reason I had a strong feeling that I didn’t want to brand the business as me. The consultancy part yes, Samantha Lowe was the right thing to do and Probate Dispute Resolution just came naturally as a result of my niche practice, but for the mediation side of things I wanted it to be wider than that. I wanted it to encompass more than just probate disputes, I also had a vision that one day it may be more than just me, others in the region or nationally may want to get involved. I also didn’t fancy a picture of my mug across all my branding (although my picture did end up on various bus stops around the country shortly after this decision but that’s another story!!!) (Insert emoji with monkey holding hands over his face here!!!)
 
After lots of brain storming or mind mapping or whatever the word for that is now, I came up with Concentus, which is latin for consent and agreement. I knew immediately that I liked it for its latin and therefore traditional legal heritage but with a cool font and modern colours, it gave that contemporary, non legal, non stuffy feel that I was aiming for. I gave it to Creativehill and they did their stuff styling the name! Next thing was imaging and designing the website and with that came #unlockhorns and the images of animals locking horns. I came up with that randomly one night, in the bath, trying to escape the world for half an hour but instead frantically thinking about the branding and what it would become. It just popped into my head and once I googled images relating to it, my mind was made up! Loved it. Not that I am suggesting that litigating parties or their representatives act like animals ..….. it simply summed up the aim of a mediator to try and work through locked horns and separate them to resolve issues.....honestly! I started to tweet the concept to see what reaction it got before I settled on it and it went down well, so it was settled, large rhino images became part of my branding! So far, so good. Creativehill helped put it all together into one design, incorporating the name, the strap line, the # and the images! www.concentus-mediation.co.uk was finally finished in April 2017. I am sure Creativehill were super happy to stop receiving obsessive e mails from me asking to change this box and line up that box and change that shade to this shade of the same colour!!! I even surprised myself and I know how bad I am…..! I have to say, I do love the website and the brand and was super happy this week to design Christmas rhinos for my Christmas cards …… it’s the small things!